Google To Offer Translator Phone?

According to a recent story in the Sunday Times, Google is hard at work on a new software that could add a little extra smart to your smartphone. The software would pave the way for a translator phone capable of automatically translating speech from one language to another.

Google Nexus One

Google envisions a software that can recognize your voice, analyze sentences and then effectively translate them to the foreign language of your choice. Google already has two of the key elements of the concept working in other areas: voice recognition and translation. Google's Voice Recognition allows mobile phone users to speak Web searches rather than manually entering them. Google Translate provides Web users with translation of text. By combining the two together, Google hopes to offer translation capability for phones.

Google still has its work cut out for it. In order to make a functional translator, Google needs to boost the accuracy of both its voice recognition and translation. The company expects to have a basic system readied within a few years. The Web Translate feature currently works with 52 different languages.

While it's pointless to get too hopeful about what could turn into vaportech, Google's idea has the potential to revolutionize global communications. Imagine being able to pick up your phone and call anyone in the world without the barrier created by divergent languages. If Google succeeds, hopefully someone will package this software into a device designed for in-person communications, providing a brilliant travel companion.

I'm afraid I'm not convinced at all that this is going to happen. My guess is that it's a matter of decades or even centuries if at all. Is it seriously being suggested that if I speak in Welsh, a gadget will be able to translate my words into Yoruba or Catalan or Berber?

I favour a non-technological solution, i.e. the wider use of the planned international languasge Esperanto.